


What's Love?

by cherrygrace



Series: Miraculous Adults as Teenagers [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, First Meet, Fluff, Friendship, Love at First Sight, Young Emilie Agreste is a Miss Sunshine, Young Gabriel Agreste is very shy and nervous, Young!Emilie Agreste, Young!Gabriel Agreste, friends to something more
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25139716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrygrace/pseuds/cherrygrace
Summary: It all started because Gabriel chose an empty room to hide and draw peacefully at lunch, but he ended up being found by Emilie — who had kind of bumped over him on the way to class and whose smile was a difficult light to turn away from.
Relationships: Emilie Agreste/Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth & Emilie Agreste, Implied Tom Dupain/Sabine Cheng
Series: Miraculous Adults as Teenagers [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805953
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	What's Love?

**Author's Note:**

> So this is what I think may be the first meet of Gabriel and Emilie while they’re still on their teenage years. I quite like the headcanon of young Gabe drawing when he’s disturbed or upset (as seen in Upset Drawings, the first story of the series) and I’m testing some things on Emilie’s personality. Also I take a bit of inspiration on how Adrien acts to leads her during this.   
> And for last but not least important, a little Tom and Sabine for you all. I’m planning an one-shot for them as some other characters  
> That’s it. I hope you like it!

Lunchtime was always a perfect time for Gabriel to escape his worries and hide from the executioners he called classmates. It was like that at his old school and it would also be the same at Françoise-Dupont.

Despite being in the last seat at the back of the room, he was the quickest to leave when the bell struck. He had his case and sketchbook attached to his chest as if they were the most important things he was carrying in that sense of persecution. No matter what impression he had given his colleagues, everything had been spoiled by the time he set foot there.

Mr. Damocles, the homeroom teacher, introduced him along with a student of Eastern origin — who he couldn't even remember the name because he was staring at the classroom completely nervous.

After choking to speak his own name, he went looking for a place to sit. The chinese girl took the right seat from the first table. As it was the closest place to be chosen and get out of that torture, Gabriel approached the empty seat beside him. Or _tried_ , at least. A new figure practically ran into the room, throwing him on the floor on the way and sat down in his place.

“Miss Graham de Vanilly! Late as always. And just on your first day of school?,” the teacher had complained. “Are you okay, Mr. Agreste?”

Gabriel said nothing, nor did he bother to take a closer look at the girl who had bumped into him by accident. He went up the stairs, feeling everyone's eyes on him and sat down next to a big, strong boy who had a small bag with a delicious sweet smell with him. A macaron — as it was revealed a short time later — was offered to him in the middle of his run out of the room.

He was so busy with the idea of finding an empty place to hide that he didn't even notice when he was on the second floor and entering a room full of fantasies, a bookcase and a very messy table. The important thing is that no one would enter there at the break-time. 

Swallowing, Gabriel approached the back of the room and sat down beside a bookcase and a clothes rack.

With the sketchbook open in his lap, he started to draw a little. He was taking inspiration from a piece of clothing left on the table, completely unfinished and, in his most humble opinion, with the worst design he’d ever seen.

His pencil scrawled a female torso, filling it with the entire top of a simple dress, drawing the lines to make a long skirt. The green color of the real piece reminded him of a peacock and this association made him smile slightly.

Gabriel made the right arm a starting point for the detail of the bird's neck, taking the skirt to be its sumptuous tail. He pulled a single sleeve onto that arm, making it almost like a big wing. He put the pencil in his mouth and started pulling the colored pencils to give color to his design.

His father always found it incredible how he managed to obtain so many shades of color with a small number of very poor quality pencils. There was constantly an implied promise that he would be given better material, but his mother's sad look and the papers she gathered on the table didn’t give him the same hope.

The torso gained shades of dark and light blue, blending little by little with green. He designed the “eyes” of the peacock's tail in a delicate way, making the vision pleasant to the eyes. He was so focused on these little details that it took him a while to notice a person in front of him. When the plug fell, his hand froze on the paper.

“Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't want to disturb you…,” he hadn't raised his face to watch her, but he found the girl's voice sweet and melodious. “But you are in the Theater Club room.”

The fantasies and the mess made more sense at that moment. 

Shyly, Gabriel tried to look at her, but surprise soon formed on his face. The girl who spoke to him was very beautiful.  _ Exceptionally beautiful _ . She had piercing and intense green eyes, cream-colored blond hair that ran down her right side in a graceful spiral and her smile was angelic.

She wore a white short-sleeved blouse and a round navy blue skirt that reached below the knee, complementing the view with two thin white socks with the lace bar that matched the black sneakers. She looked like a doll — an especially  _ expensive _ doll, he needed to add.

“You are the new student, right? My name is Emilie,” she smiled energetically at him. “Emilie Graham de Vanilly.”

The boy swallowed, terrified.  _ That _ was the girl who had bumped over him in his attempt to get to the table. Her expression must have reminded her of that, because not long after, she put her hand behind the neck in an act of embarrassment.

“I apologize for earlier today. I didn't really see you on the way,” Emilie said.

“No one ever sees though…,” Gabriel murmured.

“What?”

“N-n-nothing!”

He closed the sketchbook quickly, hiding it as if he were blocking the view of his own body. However, this seemed to further instigate the conversation for Emilie.

“Is it a butterfly on the cover? Wow! She is so beautiful!,” she exclaimed, crouching down to stay in the same position as him. “Do you know what the species is? It looks like a moth too… it’s a Monarch? Or is it another? Hum… this 'G. A.' in the corner... is your name? What's your name? Is it like Armand Grand? Or Gustave Andrè? What is?”

It was the first time in his life that Gabriel had seen someone ask him so many questions in just a minute. Emilie's eyes flashed with animation, like a child's. Which question should he start with? 

“It is... a butterfly, yes... an Apatura Iris, it's called 'Emperor'... Monarch is orange... and well…,” Gabriel took a deep breath, trying to contain his desire to throw himself from the nearest window to escape that conversation. “G-gabriel. Gabriel Agreste… is my name… uh, yes. My name.”

“Gabriel like the archangel?,” asked the laughing blonde almost without noticing his nervousness.

“I-I d-don't know.”

“You know, I like your glasses.”

The young man didn't knew if it was on purpose or if his colleague was essentially indifferent to personal space, but she was  _ too close _ to him. He could feel his entire face turning red, like the shirt he wore under his father's old beige sweater. Was he shaking? He felt like he was.

Why was that — very pretty — girl talking to him? No reasonable explanation came to mind and his fear of her becoming just another person who would mock or laugh at him shivered his spine. She continued to approach him as he curled up in his sweater and slid against the wall. That’s was getting ridiculous.

“The dress you were designing is very beautiful!,” Emilie commented suddenly.

Gabriel shook his head.

“What are you saying? Yes, it is!”

“T-t-too close…”

This only made Emilie get closer, the tips of their noses touching each other.

“Y-y-y-you are t-t-t-too close… uh, Emilie.”

Understanding his words better, the young Graham de Vanilly walked away quickly, yet remained by his side. Her cheeks were pink in contrast to the boy who was entirely red. 

His heart was beating faster than ever. The only woman who stood so close to him like that was his mother and was usually to wipe something off his face — not even gently. But that girl was so charming, like a fairy tale princess. He couldn’t depart from her. 

Gabriel was like a moth and Emilie was his light.

Emilie exchanged a new look with Gabriel, a gentle smile on her lips. The boy tried in vain to compose himself. Then she held out a hand to him as she stood up. Her angelic aura became difficult for him to refuse and when he saw it, he was feeling soft and delicate skin that lifted him off the floor.

“You can use the club room whenever you want, Gabriel. But with one condition,” she winked at him.

Their hands were still together and the boy’s mind was blank. What feeling was that springing up in his chest? Why did butterflies seem to invade his stomach?

“Can I be your friend?”

***

Emilie Graham de Vanilly was the type of person who could do almost anything she wanted, Gabriel could tell with careful observation throughout the week. With some courage, he had asked the boy at his side — Tom Dupain — what he knew about her and luckily, the answers came without inconvenient questioning.

Coming from a wealthy family with a big name in the film industry, the girl had been attending that school for a long time and was always involved in performing arts since she was little. She had a twin sister that nobody knew very well and she treated everyone like dear friends, including some younger students.

In addition to being, as confirmed later, she was kindly persuasive.

“Tom, do you mind sitting next to Sabine? I'm worried that this position for Gabriel is too bad for him since he wears glasses,” Emilie said that morning when the Agreste put his backpack by the table.

He looked from the young chinese girl with a shy smile to the large colleague who seemed slightly embarrassed but, far from denying that offer.

“N-no p-problem,” Tom replied blushing. “It's a really cool thing you're doing for Gabriel, Emilie.”

“I agree. You are very kind,” Sabine completed

Gabriel swallowed as he put the backpack on his arm again. He walked in silence with Emilie to the front table, watching the other two start a simple conversation out of the corner of his eye. As he sat down beside the girl, they exchanged a long look.

“Hi,” her smile was beautiful and it took his breath away.

“H-hi…”

Butterflies battled in his stomach.

“I hope we became very good friends, Gabriel.”

Something in those words prompted a smile on the blonde but, Gabriel controlled himself not to let an answer escape.  _ “I hope we are more than good friends, Emilie”. _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Sincerily? I think that Emilie would be the "just friendzone the love of my life" one on their past. But Adrien certainly have from both of his parents the oblivious genes XD
> 
> [English is not my native language, so any errors just tell me! Thank you!]


End file.
